80 years in sales
As we celebrate 80 years in sales and CPM being in business it is worth reflecting on what has changed and what has not and I would sum it up by saying “everything and nothing”!!
Everything has changed because we have gone from being one business with one office in one country; to a global business operating in most continents of the world with revenues or around $600million! It’s an impressive journey and one of which we should all be proud.
Everything has changed too in as much as in 1936 we were a field marketing business using face to face field teams to execute our work – today we sell our clients products not only face to face but also on the telephone and increasingly digitally and we are proud to have one the world’s leading experiential marketing businesses, TRO, within our organisation. And everything has changed in that our heritage was in the FMCG industry and we now serve clients in the technology, automotive, utilities, energy, apparel sectors and many more besides.
But why do I say nothing has changed?
When J Bede Egerton set up CPM he did so to solve a problem namely “it can’t be bought if it isn’t there” and the challenge of product availability and visibility is as real today as it was eighty years ago – in fact, the challenge is more acute because all those years ago “there” was much easier to identify as we only called on physical shops, whereas today the range of places our customers can buy our clients products’ is much more diverse.
Selling more in more places
To meet this increased diversity our product range has evolved too and the diagram below neatly sums up the way we see the world now.
Everything we do involves a core sales team but the way that core team operates and is supplemented is very sophisticated. Using our multilingual call centres we supplement our regular sales calls with telephone account management, allowing us to reach a broader base of our clients' customers than would otherwise be possible; our technology business, OmniISG, maintains “mental availability” between regular sales calls through the deployment of their retailer app which allows us to send targeted messages and offer between regular sales calls, and we monitor customer websites on behalf of our clients to make sure their products are available and visible to purchase in the digital world.
I think J Bede Egerton would be proud of the way we have built on his legacy.
Please see the CPM Timeline for more information on how CPM has evolved since 1936. IF you would like to find out more about how CPM can help drive sales for your business, please visit Our Services or Contact Us today.
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